"Black-faced benevolence, a crescent moon between the foreheads, plain clothes and green shirts", the image of Bao Qingtian jumped on the paper.
We all know that Bao Zheng is a famous honest and honest official, known as "Qingtian", and in ancient times, he was even mythologized, saying that he was the reincarnation of Wenqu Xing, came to the world to come for the people, judged cases like gods, and worked diligently.
The historical Bao Zheng was a native of Luzhou in the Song Dynasty, who "did not love Wusha but only loved the people", and all his life as an official only to be the master of the people, not to pursue fame and fortune in the official field.
Although Bao Zheng is known for his honesty and honesty, the most enjoyable thing is his ability to judge cases, which has been praised as "judging cases like gods", and there are many folk legends of his wonderful case-breaking works, one of which is the "stealing tongue and killing cattle case".
Originally, a farmer reported that the cow's tongue had been cut off, hoping that Bao Zheng could help him catch the thief, and Bao Zheng, after listening to his case, directly gave the farmer's advice to kill the cow, and said that after killing the cow, the thief would naturally appear automatically.
So why is it that by killing the cow, you can know who is the culprit?
As the farmer follows Bao Zheng's words, we finally know that it is actually a logical reasoning problem, as long as we know the motive of the crime and the psychological activities of the thief, we can pull him into the net step by step.
The farmer reported the crime and the cow's tongue was cut
During the song renzong qing calendar year, Bao Zheng sat in Kaifeng Province, all kinds of strange cases emerged in an endless stream, even small cases such as theft in the homes of ordinary people, neighborhood conflicts, as long as they were reported to the front, Bao Zheng would take it seriously and seriously.
Early one morning, while still changing clothes, Bao Zheng overheard the sound of drumming from the mansion, and he hurried to the inside to see what grievances he had.
When Bao Zheng walked to the front hall, he saw an old farmer standing in the middle of the hall, holding a cow in his hand.
Bao Zheng asked the old farmer why he had come, and the old farmer said that he had come to complain about his grievances, and that there was only one cow in the family that had cultivated the land, and now he had been cut off his tongue for no reason, hoping that the Great Master of Qingtian could find a thief for him, return his innocence, and give him an explanation.
It turned out that in the Song Dynasty, killing cattle was illegal, and the Song Dynasty code stipulated that "anyone who kills cattle without incident is sentenced."
Under the medical conditions at that time, the cattle that had their tongues cut off naturally did not live long, and when the cattle died, if the culprit could not be found, not only would the old peasant family lose its important labor force, but even the old peasant would be sentenced.
In desperation, the old peasant had no choice but to report to the officials, hoping to get help from the government, catch the thief, clarify his innocence, and avoid him from imprisonment.
Originally, the old farmer was the first to report to the village official, but this is too unbelievable, the village official did not believe the old farmer's words, in a hurry, the old farmer had to find Bao Qingtian, who was "the master of the people".
The case, which had no beginning and no end, made it difficult for all the servants present to cut their tongues, there was no evidence, no one witnessed this incident, and they did not know where to start if they wanted to investigate.
After listening to the old farmer's words, Bao Zheng said to the old farmer for a moment, "You first took the cattle home and slaughtered them, and when you kill the cattle, the thieves will naturally appear."
Bao Zheng decided the case, and the old farmer killed cattle to sell meat
The old peasant listened to Bao Zheng's words, and although he did not understand his meaning, he was already helpless, thinking that the official naturally had his own reasons, so he followed Bao Zheng's words and implemented them.
The old farmer returned home, looked at the cow that was in pain because of the cut tongue, and then thought that this was the only cow in the family, although the heartache, but still fierce, the knife fell in his hand, and killed the cow.
After the old farmer slaughtered the cattle, he saw a few servants come to their homes and asked them what was going on, and the servants relayed Bao Zheng's words, asking the old farmer to kill the cattle and take the beef to the lively market to sell, when the thieves saw it, they would naturally appear.
Although the old farmer was puzzled, why he wanted to sell beef in the market with great fanfare after killing cattle, and why selling beef could catch thieves.
However, based on the trust in Bao Zheng, although the old farmer did not understand, he was not entangled, and he obeyed the arrangement.
So he dismembered the cattle, cleaned the internal organs, cut the beef and washed it, cut it into small pieces and put it in a bamboo basket, waiting for the morning market the next morning to sell the beef.
The old farmer rushed to the market early in the morning with beef, picked a good spot, and waited for the arrival of the guests.
During the Song Dynasty, cattle were not allowed to be slaughtered for no reason, and in the agricultural era, cattle were the largest "labor force" and very precious, so there were very few beef sellers.
Suddenly, a person came out to sell fresh beef, which naturally attracted a lot of customers who inquired about the comprador, and when the old farmer's business was busy, there was a person who stared at the old farmer deadly, and had other plans in mind.
The thief casts his own net
A person who reported the crime came up in Kaifeng Province, and it was the same person who stared at the old farmer selling beef at the market yesterday, and the person he told was the old farmer.
This man wanted to sue the old farmer for committing suicide by selling cattle and meat, and asked Yamen to come forward and arrest the old farmer and bring him back for punishment.
At the end of the conversation, I saw Bao Zheng smiling, there was no consultation details as this person expected, nor did he arrange for Ya Gong to arrest people, but instead he waved a big hand and asked Ya Gong to catch this person under the hall.
Then Bao Zheng sent the old farmer to come and confront him, and under some persecution, the thief finally confessed his guilt and told the truth one by one.
It turned out that this man had a vendetta against the old farmer, and in order to get revenge on the old farmer, he came up with the idea of killing the cattle without leaving a handle.
He thought that if he did not kill the cattle with his own hands, naturally there would be no problem, but if he cut the tongue of the cow, the cow would not die at once, but would slowly die of blood, and then he could plant the bribes and blame the old peasants for "stealing and killing cattle for selfish desires."
Who knew that this perfect plan of revenge was planted here in Bao Zheng, if it was other village officials who did not do their best, either did not believe it or could not think of a way to find the thief, then this pot may really be backed by the old farmer.
It is a pity that he met a serious and rigorous Bao Zheng, no matter how big or small, as long as he knows, he will not sit idly by, as long as he manages, he will be responsible for the end.
epilogue
In the description of the old farmer, Bao Zheng knew that the cultivating cattle would not be cut off by people for no reason, but could only have other plans or have a vendetta against the old farmer.
If there is another picture, the cow's tongue has no special use, and only the old farmer's cattle are cut off, so it is inferred that the chance of having a vendetta with the old farmer is the highest.
No matter what you do, there is a certain reason, as long as you find the motivation, it is easy to do. Bao Zheng guessed that the person who cut the cow's tongue was the enemy of the old farmer, and he must have been very happy to see the old farmer in trouble, so he would ask the old farmer to kill the cattle and sell meat, which was equivalent to sending the evidence of the crime of "committing suicide cattle privately" to the hands of thieves.
When the thief sees that the old farmer "knows the law and breaks the law", he will definitely take action, as long as he moves, pulls out the radish and brings out the mud, the case will naturally fall out.
Therefore, Bao Zheng's "judgment of the case like a god" is not "divine help" or "divine calculation", all based on his understanding of criminal behavior.
Bao Zheng accurately grasped the psychological activities of the thief's crime, and then through super logical reasoning ability, came to a conclusion, and then confirmed one by one, and finally the case was resolved.